The concept behind equipment’s ‘uptime’ and how to increase it

Uptime is an indicator of how well heavy equipment are performing. It is also regarded as a key performance indicator in manufacturing. When there are high levels of equipment uptime, it points towards high productivity and a boost in efficiency. There is a need not to confuse uptime with availability, as both are different. Not making this difference means it reduces the ability to gauge manufacturing effectiveness. Even if equipment, such as heavy moving machinery, is regarded as being available, it will not in any way certainly imply that it is up and running.

This blog will help identify any possible ways to help boost equipment uptime. It will also delve into the details of uptime as it will offer a better understanding of how to increase the uptime of equipment, such as earth movers’ equipment. It can also help improve the uptime of used equipment, such as used wheel excavators, making it possible to buy used heavy equipment in a bid to cut down the costs of a construction project.

Why ‘uptime’ matter for new or used construction equipment?

Equipment, such as earth moving equipment is regarded as “up” in case it is running and operating at the efficiency it is supposed to. Hence, uptime refers to the number of hours the equipment runs in construction or other operations. Downtime refers to the opposite of uptime as it includes the entire time when equipment is not operational or running.

Equipment or machine availability also points out a similar concept. However, it refers to the number of hours the equipment is supposed to run in case it is required to work on the work site. You can also put it this way by deducting the time that is taken for different purposes, ranging from breaks and meetings to equipment maintenance and other activities, from the total number of hours in the given time for which it is under review.

The fact is that considering availability is important as it helps measure and calculate how well the equipment of a company are being utilized on work sites.

How do you find equipment’s uptime?

Uptime can also be stated as being a percentage of the total time in a given period during which it is fully operational and running. Hence, the formula for calculating uptime would be dividing the time equipment was operational by the total time in the given period and then multiplying the result by 100.

Take for example the case of equipment that runs for 30 hours during a 40 hours long week. The uptime for this week would be calculated as being 75%.

As far as availability is concerned, it can be calculated by dividing the uptime with the planned operational time and then multiplying the figure by 100.

To further clarify the concepts and the differences, an example can be used. Consider there is equipment in the fleet that is expected to work for 48 hours during a week. There are planned official breaks, maintenance, or any other activities, resulting in the equipment not being available for 4 hours. This means the equipment actually operates for 44 hours during the week. In case a breakdown occurs for two hours then it means the equipment operated for 42 hours in the week. The uptime would be calculated as being 42 hours.

On the other hand, the availability would be higher. In the case of the above-stated example, if you subtract the planned activities from the planned production time, it will give you the right percentage of availability. In this case, the availability would be 42/ (48-4) x 100 = 95.45%.

Ways to increase heavy equipment uptime

Increasing the uptime of equipment, such as heavy moving machinery, earth movers’ equipment, or used heavy equipment paves the way for sellers to put the equipment for sale. These could be any equipment, like a backhoe loader for sale, or crawler dozers for sale, or used dozers for sale.

Now coming to increasing the uptime of your equipment, you need to make a plan for proactive maintenance. For this, you need to take the following steps.

Train your employees

You would need to train all those employees who are related to the use of equipment regarding how the equipment is supposed to be used and serviced. You also need to train them about how to maintain the specific parts of the equipment. If you have different equipment, then train specific employees over maintaining specific equipment.

In this regard, specific crew members must be assigned to conduct detailed inspections daily, weekly, and monthly.

Review the maintenance needs of all equipment you have in your fleet

Whenever you purchase equipment, you will need to read the owner’s manual. Reviewing it will allow you to learn how to care for the equipment and even service it when necessary. It will also help you understand which equipment parts need to be stored on hand. This is because a need for repair may arise. This will help increase uptime.  

Come up with a maintenance schedule

A proper maintenance schedule must be maintained for the record. Once you have carefully reviewed the owner’s manual regarding all equipment, plan and create a calendar that covers each and every part that needs to be serviced. This calendar must include details about how to service the equipment after specific operating hours and based on the time it was operational and the distance it had to travel.

All the maintenance records must be maintained along with details of repair as it will help in the future.

Last word

Maintaining a heavy equipment maintenance plan will effectively help ensure that maintenance is prioritized and not ignored. It helps identify the needs of the equipment and helps manage the maintenance schedule better by placing different responsibilities related to maintenance on specific employees who have been trained to perform service and maintenance of the equipment. This helps increase the overall uptime of the equipment.